There are very few products that inspire me these days. As journalists, we’re pretty bombarded with many products being the same thing repeatedly. But sometimes, a product comes out that’s just different enough to win us over. And for the first time in a while, I think Lensbaby absolutely nailed it. The Lensbaby Double Optic II is everything I’ve wanted their Composer Pro II to have for a while, optically speaking. Don’t get me wrong, I like sofer optics. But Lensbaby was always too soft. The Double Optic II, however, is just perfect with the tilt-shift mechanism of the Composer Pro II.
The Lensbaby Double Optic II has to be used with the Composer Pro II. This gives it the tilt-shift mechanics that we adore about it. Setting it up is simple as all you need to do is screw it into the Composer and then focus or shift it. It’s incredibly difficult to use as just a normal optical lens, and I wouldn’t even really recommend bothering to do that anyway.
Something to keep in mind, you’re not going to get perspective control the way you will with true tilt-shift lenses. But instead, you’ll get a lot of selective areas of focus control.
What makes the Lensbaby Double Optic II so much better than previous ones is that it’s sharper than the rest. Because it’s sharper, it’s also easier to focus with. In fact, it’s so sharp that it can be used easily with both Leica and Panasonic L mount cameras enabling their focus peaking. With this setup, I rarely ever got the lens out of focus. In fact, I’d say that this is the easiest to use of the Composer Pro II optic options.
While it’s sharp, it’s still packed with a few modern optical flaws. For example, it has onion bokeh. And while some folks think onion bokeh is bad, I don’t. In fact, most lenses throughout photography history still have onion bokeh. It adds cinematic character that doesn’t need to be removed from images. Your images have a lot more impact than normal because of how it all works out.
Where the Lensbaby Double Optic II could really improve is simply with build quality. Granted, it’s already well-built, but it needs weather resistance. On top of that, the entire Composer Pro II unit needs it as well.
So who would use the Lensbaby Double Optic II? Well, I see portrait photographers surely wanting to use it. Additionally, landscape photographers and anyone looking to do some fine art work would really like it. But the Lensbaby Double Optic II becomes even more fun when you combine it with in-camera profiles like the Real Time LUTS that Panasonic offers. It’s also incredible with Leica’s own Vivid mode that helps subjects in photos really pop.
Combined with the Composer Pro II, the whole unit goes for a few hundred bucks and change. Would I consider buying one? Well, transparently because we believe in our ethics, Lensbaby let us keep this one. But I’d go as far as to say that this is one that I’d nearly buy. The only thing holding me back is the lack of weather resistance. But if you don’t care about that, then go for it. I think that it will make you very happy.
Essentials is a series featuring products we’re currently lusting over in quick, easy-to-digest posts.
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